Your Take On The ISIS Phenomenon

[backtoiam]

More at link...

Impacts of Turkey’s Aggression against Russia. The “Turkish Stream” is Dead. Disruption of Gas Pipeline Routes to the EU. Russia’s Economy in Crisis?
By Prof Michel Chossudovsky
Global Research, November 27, 2015
Region: Europe, Russia and FSU
Theme: Oil and Energy, US NATO War Agenda

[print]
erdogan-poutine

“Regime change” in Ukraine engineered by the US State Department was largely responsible for the collapse of the “South Stream” gas pipeline project. Washington’s intent was to establish a de facto blockade which would prevent the flow of Russian gas to the European Union.

“The South Stream gas pipeline worth €15.5 billion was intended to pump 67 billion cubic meters of Russian natural gas to Europe annually.

The pipeline’s underwater section 900 km (559 miles) long was intended to run along the bed of the Black Sea from the Russkaya compressor station on the Russian shore to the Bulgarian coast.” (TASS, January 14, 2015)

On December 1, 2014, President Vladimir Putin announced that the project to build the South Stream gas pipeline “was closed due to the European Union’s unconstructive approach to cooperation, including Bulgaria’s decision [pressured by the US] to stop the construction of the pipeline’s stretch on its territory.”


http://www.globalresearch.ca/impacts-of ... is/5491756

[solace]

Saturday, December 5th | 23 Kislev 5776
Hamas Hosts ISIS Commander in Gaza to Expand Terror Cooperation

Gaza-ruling terror group Hamas is currently hosting an ISIS bigwig, Israel’s Channel 2 reported on Thursday.

According to the report, Shadi Al-Mani’i (also known as Abu Mus’abi) — commander of Wilayat Sina, ISIS’ Sinai branch — is meeting with heads of Hamas’ military wing to discuss expanding cooperation between the two terror organizations.

Al-Mani’i has been wanted by Egyptian authorities for years and was even targeted in a failed assassination attempt last May. He has been accused of masterminding a number of terrorist attacks on Israelis, among them the 2011 attack on Route 12, in which nine Israelis were killed, and the firing of rockets at Eilat.

His visit to Gaza reflects the strengthening of ties between ISIS and Hamas. According to Israeli and Egyptian intelligence, nrg reported, Hamas has already been using its tunnels to smuggle advanced weapons to ISIS in the Sinai, which have been used in combat against the Egyptian army.

http://www.algemeiner.com/2015/12/04/ha ... operation/

[Nordic]

Oh yeah because ISIS is so in love with the Palestinians:

http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east ... 89E8494271

Israeli Arab MK: World ignoring ISIS massacre of Palestinians


'There is a moral double standard,' says Joint List's Ahmed Tibi of attacks on Yarmouk refugee camp. 'If other people were the victims, not Palestinians, it would be different.'

Israeli lawmaker Ahmed Tibi called the takeover by the Islamic State of the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp “a crime against humanity" on Monday.

Tibi, a member of the Arab Joint List party, said the international community, and Arab countries specifically, bear responsibility for allowing the violence in Yarmouk to occur.

Situation in Yarmouk 'beyond inhumane'

Al-Yarmouk camp, south of Damascus on January 31, 2014.

ISIS moves 8 km from heart of Damascus

“I feel anger and great sadness about what is happening in what is left of the camp,” he said. “There is a moral double standard. If other people were the victims, not Palestinians it would be different.”

More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed since Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, took over about 90 percent of the camp in last week.

[Nordic]

Saturday, December 5th | 23 Kislev 5776
Hamas Hosts ISIS Commander in Gaza to Expand Terror Cooperation

Gaza-ruling terror group Hamas is currently hosting an ISIS bigwig, Israel’s Channel 2 reported on Thursday.

According to the report, Shadi Al-Mani’i (also known as Abu Mus’abi) — commander of Wilayat Sina, ISIS’ Sinai branch — is meeting with heads of Hamas’ military wing to discuss expanding cooperation between the two terror organizations.

Al-Mani’i has been wanted by Egyptian authorities for years and was even targeted in a failed assassination attempt last May. He has been accused of masterminding a number of terrorist attacks on Israelis, among them the 2011 attack on Route 12, in which nine Israelis were killed, and the firing of rockets at Eilat.

His visit to Gaza reflects the strengthening of ties between ISIS and Hamas. According to Israeli and Egyptian intelligence, nrg reported, Hamas has already been using its tunnels to smuggle advanced weapons to ISIS in the Sinai, which have been used in combat against the Egyptian army.

http://www.algemeiner.com/2015/12/04/ha ... operation/

Solace, if that source is what you consider "news" it's no wonder you're like a Zionist version of a Fox News addict. A proud ditto head.

[backtoiam]

The creators of history write with one hand and erase with the other hand. Every time a bit of information from the future is created another bit of information from the past goes into the memory hole to be erased or revised for further use typically as vastly different than it actually happened.

There is already a narrative being started that nobody ever lived in Palestine before the 1940's when the big ass kicking started there. The next generation of children will grow up believing that nobody really ever lived there before Israel hit the street in 1940's.

It seems obvious that no relief will be given to the Palestinians and that this situation will continue to spiral downward. I have no idea what will become of the original inhabitants but it won't be pretty. Those people are in desperate trouble and I just don't see that any will relief will ever be given to them.

Hell for all this effort London should have just crowded them into small area and built them a decent place to live but instead they obviously plan to torment the natural inhabitants almost out of existence.

There are enough resources on this planet that they could have relocated those people instead of tormenting them every day and torturing them like they are doing if they were so intent on taking that land which obviously they are. With the technology available today this did not have to happen this way.

The fact the whole world is just sitting and watching this is a wake up call. Follow the chain of command on this and this is a view of the future. Greece got their butt kicked and the global situation is far from over.

I don't understand why the oligarchs think this sort of global punishment is necessary but its coming in mass in the future and there is nothing that will stop it.

If you don't believe it listen to solace because that mentality is running the show. Let that sink in deep because that is reality.

I know it sux but that is the way it is. The people running this show take delight in this shit.

[Harvey]

Saudi Arabia’s unity summit will only highlight Arab disunity

Robert Fisk, Independent, 5th December 2015

Everyone opposing President Bashar al-Assad of Syria will be invited to Riyadh later this month with one significant exception: a delegation from the so-called “Islamic State”.

At least 65 “opposition figures”, in the words of Saudi Arabia’s state-controlled press, are supposed to achieve the impossible – Arab unity – in time for the new year’s round of multinational peace talks on Syria. But the whole shebang is likely to prove as mystifying as David Cameron’s 70,000 “moderate” fighters. There will, we are assured, be representatives of the “armed opposition”. But who are they? Will the head-chopping and sectarian al-Qaeda outfit Jabhat al-Nusra be represented, funded by sources in Qatar and posing as the new “moderates”? And then there’s the virtually non-existent “Free Syrian Army”, which will certainly be ready to fly to Riyadh, if only to prove it exists.

Will the Kurds be there? The Turks, who are spending more time bombing them than any other groups in Syria, will not approve. The Iranians have already expressed their anger, sneering that the Saudi conference will cause the failure of the international talks in Vienna. The US Secretary of State John Kerry has, of course, given his approval – why should Washington oppose an initiative by its “moderate” Arab ally, Saudi Arabia? But then, as British MPs now know all too well, it all depends what you mean by “moderate”.

And the poor old Germans, who are now committing 1,200 soldiers, a frigate and reconnaissance aeroplanes to the Syrian war – in a strictly non-combat role, of course – were huffing and puffing yesterday that Saudi Arabia was “a key partner in regional conflict resolution”. A necessary if dodgy assertion, after the German foreign intelligence service (the BND) dumped on the Saudi Defence Minister, Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, for his bloody intervention in the Yemeni war.

“An impulsive policy of intervention,” was how the BND characterised the young prince’s bombing of the Shia Houthi rebels, suggesting that the prince and his father – the new King Salman – wanted to present themselves as “leaders of the Arab world”. The job of the German intelligence agency, a foreign ministry spokesman announced, was to provide “information that the government requests” and “not to supply journalists with information”. All of which suggests that the BND’s assessment of Saudi Arabia was perfectly accurate – merely handed to the wrong group of Germans.

And so we come to Isis. Since their Wahhabi tradition of sectarianism and brutality is the very same Wahhabi faith which lies at the foundation of Saudi Arabia’s version of the Sunni religion, and since much of the cult’s funding has come from Saudi Arabia, we have to ask who will represent their unique, purist and violent point of view at the Riyadh conference?

For surely they are fiercer opponents of the Assad regime than any of the opposition groups which will turn up in Riyadh. Their propensity for chopping off heads scarcely prohibits them from attending, not least because Nusra, which will assuredly have someone there, also has a habit of throat-slitting.

All in all, then, this will prove a most intriguing conference. Twenty members of the fractious Syrian “coalition” are supposed to turn up, along with seven members from inside Syria. The Syrian National Coalition says that “business leaders and religious figures” will also be in Riyadh. Saudi Arabia’s UN ambassador, Abdullah al-Mouallimi, insists the conference will include “all shades of the opposition”. Surely that means all bar those Saudi Arabia would be too embarrassed to acknowledge. The lads from Isis could, if invited, visit the new museum being constructed in Riyadh – to the founder of the Wahhabi faith in which they so fervently believe.

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/sau ... 61251.html

[AlicetheKurious]

Saturday, December 5th | 23 Kislev 5776
Hamas Hosts ISIS Commander in Gaza to Expand Terror Cooperation

Gaza-ruling terror group Hamas is currently hosting an ISIS bigwig, Israel’s Channel 2 reported on Thursday.

According to the report, Shadi Al-Mani’i (also known as Abu Mus’abi) — commander of Wilayat Sina, ISIS’ Sinai branch — is meeting with heads of Hamas’ military wing to discuss expanding cooperation between the two terror organizations.

Al-Mani’i has been wanted by Egyptian authorities for years and was even targeted in a failed assassination attempt last May. He has been accused of masterminding a number of terrorist attacks on Israelis, among them the 2011 attack on Route 12, in which nine Israelis were killed, and the firing of rockets at Eilat.

His visit to Gaza reflects the strengthening of ties between ISIS and Hamas. According to Israeli and Egyptian intelligence, nrg reported, Hamas has already been using its tunnels to smuggle advanced weapons to ISIS in the Sinai, which have been used in combat against the Egyptian army.

http://www.algemeiner.com/2015/12/04/ha ... operation/

Did anybody at all actually read the post I worked so hard to write, "Decoding the 'Middle East'"? I even included convenient subheadings to make specific topics more accessible. Here's an excerpt from the section entitled "Egypt, Hamas and Israel." The whole point of writing the long post was to enable people to make sense of "news" like the item that solace posted. Believe me, it does, but only if people bother to read it.

For Israel, Sinai represents the best possible solution to an intractable problem. Currently, around 40% of the population ruled by the “Jewish state” is non-Jewish, most of them Palestinian Muslims and Christians, whose populations are growing at a faster rate than that of Israeli Jews. According to many influential Israeli strategists, this represents the single most urgent crisis facing Israel today, with mass expulsions (or “transfer”), similar to those of 1948 and 1967 being the most obvious solution.

However, things aren’t as simple as they used to be. In 1948, most of the refugees were pushed into Jordan and Lebanon and Syria. This is not feasible now, with all three borders sealed virtually shut. In 1967, most Palestinian refugees were pushed into Gaza, making the tiny desert strip one of the most densely crowded regions on earth, and badly over-straining its ability to sustain life. However, recent discoveries of rich natural gas reserves off the shore of Gaza have prompted Israel to once more covet the Strip for itself; but first, it must be emptied of the 1.8 million Palestinians who live there.

[In 2012] with Egypt ruled by the Muslim Brotherhood and Gaza ruled by the MB’s Hamas, and Sinai having been kept so invitingly empty and now being so invitingly accessible, the solution to Israel’s terrible dilemma became obvious. And so, once again, the Zionists found themselves contemplating a “land without a people”, to solve the problem of “a people without a land.” But this time, the “people” would be the 1.8 million Palestinians in Gaza.

This project also solved a very real problem for Hamas, the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. Hamas had taken over Gaza after parliamentary elections in 2006, but its mandate expired in 2010. By 2013, support among Palestinians for Hamas was at an all-time low. In fact, its leadership was feared and loathed almost as much as the Israeli occupation. The chance that Hamas could repeat their election success in 2006 was nil. Its only real competitor, Fateh, would never go along with any plan involving the expulsion of Palestinians. In fact, Fateh and the Palestinian Authority would do everything possible to prevent it. Thus, neither Hamas, nor Israel, the occupying power who created, implanted and needed Hamas for its own purposes, was at all inclined to permit new Palestinian elections.

Still, it was shocking when, on January 4, 2013, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians defiantly gathered in Gaza to commemorate the 48th anniversary of the founding of Fateh, the bitter rival of Hamas. Until it happened, nobody would have believed it possible. Just like Israel, Hamas was facing mounting pressure, and relinquishing power was out of the question: in Hamas’ case, first, because its control over the territory was immensely profitable, and second because once out of power, there was nothing to prevent the arrest and prosecution of its cadres for all the crimes they’ve committed. Last but not least, with the encouragement of Turkey and Qatar, Hamas had its eyes on the biggest prize of all: Sinai.

The mass rally in Gaza against Hamas was exactly one month after similarly massive popular demonstrations erupted in Egypt against the Muslim Brotherhood’s rule. The pressure was mounting on both sides of the border. In Sinai, a web of criminal and terrorist gangs led by Al-Qaeda’s Mohammed Al-Zawahiri and Ramzy Mowafy (Osama Bin-Laden’s personal physician) and others, in communication with allies as far away as Yemen and Pakistan and elsewhere was operating virtually unimpeded, taking over entire towns and establishing terrorist training camps. Qatari money and Turkish logistics support, and Israeli and American weapons were flowing in. By the spring of 2013, Sinai was rapidly becoming a terrorist-run “Emirate” independent of the Egyptian state, and almost free of Egyptian security forces. Huge swathes of land were being sold by the local Bedouins to leading Hamas members and other foreigners. The groundwork was being laid for the next phase: the forced transfer, or expulsion of Gaza’s Palestinian population into Sinai.

Then things began to go very wrong for the engineers of this “solution” to Hamas’ and Israel’s problems: first, Egypt’s then-Defense Minister, Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, openly defied Morsi by ordering a large deployment of troops into Sinai, where they began to re-establish control over the border with Gaza, and destroying hundreds of tunnels. They dismantled the tent cities and attacked the training camps and, Sisi, using his authority as the military commander in charge of the administrative zones in Sinai, issued binding regulations making it illegal for non-Egyptian citizens, or dual-citizens to own property there. Those who had purchased property were given a six-month grace period to sell it, after which it would be confiscated by the state.

Morsi had personally selected Sisi to replace the previous Defense Minister soon after taking power, having been led to believe that Sisi was a Brotherhood “sleeper.” During his first six months, while the Brotherhood were occupied trying to consolidate their political and economic power, Sisi remained under the radar, quietly but tirelessly rebuilding the army’s morale, discipline, training and equipment. The army that emerged bore no resemblance to the demoralized force of six months before.

In the rest of the country, the Egyptians were in open rebellion against the Brotherhood. The Brotherhood was explicitly threatening to impose its rule by force of arms. In response, many Egyptians fled or prepared to flee the country; others began organizing and trying to take up arms to defend themselves; the majority was simply terrified. The country was a tinderbox, ready to explode into civil war. Finally, on June 30th, the Egyptians peacefully took to the streets in the largest popular demonstration in the history of mankind, to demand Morsi’s removal. The army did what it was ordered to do by the people; Morsi was deposed, and replaced with the Head of the Supreme Court and a civilian government, who ran the country for nearly a year, until the security situation was brought under control and new elections could be held.

During the following year, security forces fought to take Sinai back and clear it of the Islamist and other criminal armed gangs; some of the terrorists managed to escape either into other regions in Egypt or abroad, but many were captured or killed. In the process, there were thousands of casualties among army and police officers, troops and civilians. Nevertheless, by late spring in 2014, the army issued a communiqué announcing that it was close to securing 90% of Sinai and re-establishing complete Egyptian sovereignty over its territory and border.

Time was running out for Israel, as well as for Hamas. On July 17, 2014, Israel launched a savage air attack on Gaza that especially targeted civilian infrastructure and homes. The purpose of the attack was to force Palestinians to escape the bombardment into Sinai, after which the way back would be barred by Israeli troops, who would reoccupy Gaza permanently, paving the way for its annexation to Israel.

The Islamists who remained in Sinai had hidden weapons caches and been driven underground, ready to join with the Hamas fighters who would accompany the fleeing refugees, to re-take Sinai and once more declare it to be an Islamist “Emirate”. Sinai would become the new “Palestine”, at least for a time. Probably, sometime in the future, Israel would claim that Egypt is incapable of establishing its sovereignty over Sinai, and that the Islamist “Emirate” there represents a grave threat to Israel’s security; thus, Israel would have the pretext it needs to invade it for a fourth time, and this time take it permanently.

[zangtang]

i read it - & thanks for reposting a chunk, because it reminds me i need to reread it, at least once.

I will, if i may, send a copy to my crew @ my old local......

[AlicetheKurious]

But of course.

[semper occultus]

...oooh....Miss...Miss...I did my homework Miss....

( I even printed it out for future reference )

[semper occultus]

Saving their sworn enemy: Heartstopping footage shows Israeli commandos rescuing wounded men from Syrian warzone - but WHY are they risking their lives for Islamic militants?

Elite Israeli troops rescue wounded Syrians from the world's worst war almost every night
They have saved more than 2,000 people since 2013, at a cost of 50 million shekels (£8.7million)
Many are enemies of Israel and some may even be fighters for groups affiliated to Al Qaeda
MailOnline embedded with Israeli commandos stationed on the border between Israel and Syria
Dramatic video filmed by MailOnline and the Israeli army shows these operations taking place
Israel says that the operation is purely humanitarian but analysts believe Israel also has strategic reasons

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3315347/Watch-heart-pounding-moment-Israeli-commandos-save-Islamic-militants-Syrian-warzone-risking-lives-sworn-enemies.html


A wounded Syrian Islamic militant receives urgent medical treatment from Israeli troops at the Syrian border. The commandos are seen administering 'tracheal intubation' by forcing a tube down the man's throat to prevent asphyxiation

In June, two wounded Syrian jihadis were attacked by a lynch-mob while they were being transported to hospital by ambulance. One was beaten to death, while the other suffered serious injuries.
Six weeks later, two members of the Israeli Druze community – an Arabic-speaking people found in Israel and across the Levant – were charged with murder. It emerged that the militants were suspected members of Jabhat al-Nusra, an Al Qaeda affiliate who had attacked Druze villages in Syria.

According to one senior Israeli army officer, Israel's humanitarian mission may also be part of a security strategy, aiming to 'keep the northern border quiet and our soldiers safe' by using medical treatment as an 'insurance policy'.

'The Syrians will not strike us because they know we'd stop helping them,' Lieutenant Colonel Malka told MailOnline.
'They are desperate for our medical help. They have no doctors, not even a vet. Once we treated a man who had been stitched up by a friend with a needle and thread.
'If they want our help to continue, they know they must stop anybody from attacking our soldiers and civilians.'

Some experts argue that the status quo makes sense for both sides. The militants are stretched almost to breaking-point in a bitter struggle against Assad, and Israel, which is coping with stabbings throughout the country and sporadic rocket fire from Gaza, wants to avoid a flare-up of terror in the north.

Others, however, believe that Israel is also pursuing more hard-headed geopolitical goals. 'Above all, Israel wants to prevent Hezbollah from gaining control on the other side of the border,' said Michael Stephens, Research Fellow for Middle East Studies at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI).

'The Sunni militants are fighting Hezbollah, so for now they share the same objectives as Israel. That's why we're seeing this odd cooperation between people who would be enemies under any other circumstances.

'It is also possible that Israel is looking at what capacity these Syrians can add to its intelligence gathering in Syria, which is already formidable.'

Analysts agree that the powerful Shia alliance of Iran, Hezbollah and Assad's troops is an existential threat to Israel, far outweighing any danger from the Sunni Islamist rebels (who are backed by Saudi Arabia, understood to have a form of working relationship in some areas with Israel).

Significantly, an Israeli spokesman confirmed that no medical support has been provided to any militants from the Shia alliance.

'From an Israeli viewpoint, it's a case of my enemy's enemy is my friend,' said Kamal Alam, research analyst at RUSI and an expert in Syrian affairs.
'There is no one they can trust in the Syrian quagmire, but if you get rid of Hezbollah, that's the end of Iran in the region. Israel's main aim has to be to eliminate Hezbollah – and whoever takes on Hezbollah is an uneasy but necessary ally.
'In giving medical support to these fighters, Israel has done a deal with the devil.'

For Israel to actually arm and equip the Sunni militants, he pointed out, would be to risk a fierce backlash, both from the Arab world and in Israel. It would also run the risk that the weapons could one day be turned against the Jewish State.
Humanitarian medical assistance, on the other hand, which is also offered to civilians, raises fewer objections on both sides, while fulfilling mutual strategic objectives.

[tapitsbo]

How are Americans who can't afford healthcare supposed to feel about THAT?

[AlicetheKurious]

'They are desperate for our medical help. They have no doctors, not even a vet. Once we treated a man who had been stitched up by a friend with a needle and thread.
...
For Israel to actually arm and equip the Sunni militants, he pointed out, would be to risk a fierce backlash, both from the Arab world and in Israel. It would also run the risk that the weapons could one day be turned against the Jewish State.
Humanitarian medical assistance, on the other hand, which is also offered to civilians, raises fewer objections on both sides, while fulfilling mutual strategic objectives.

So...the "wealthiest terrorist group in the world", that supposedly has enough professional staff to extract, refine and transport billions of dollars' worth of stolen oil, that publishes a slick multilingual magazine, has professional film-making facilities, stamps its own currency, knows how to use and maintain advanced weaponry, and can move billions of dollars around the world while avoiding detection...has "no doctors"?

Ok, let's pretend to be really, really, dumb. It must be fun, because so many people are doing it.

Still, why would Israel have to supply arms and equipment to Daesh/"ISIS"? They've got plenty, in fact seemingly endless supplies of American weapons and equipment...airlifted and dropped right into their waiting arms. By mistake.

"ISIS" = Israeli State Intelligence Services.

[backtoiam]

'They are desperate for our medical help. They have no doctors, not even a vet. Once we treated a man who had been stitched up by a friend with a needle and thread.
...
For Israel to actually arm and equip the Sunni militants, he pointed out, would be to risk a fierce backlash, both from the Arab world and in Israel. It would also run the risk that the weapons could one day be turned against the Jewish State.
Humanitarian medical assistance, on the other hand, which is also offered to civilians, raises fewer objections on both sides, while fulfilling mutual strategic objectives.

So...the "wealthiest terrorist group in the world", that supposedly has enough professional staff to extract, refine and transport billions of dollars' worth of stolen oil, that publishes a slick multilingual magazine, has professional film-making facilities, stamps its own currency, knows how to use and maintain advanced weaponry, and can move billions of dollars around the world while avoiding detection...has "no doctors"?

Ok, let's pretend to be really, really, dumb. It must be fun, because so many people are doing it.

Still, why would Israel have to supply arms and equipment to Daesh/"ISIS"? They've got plenty, in fact seemingly endless supplies of American weapons and equipment...airlifted and dropped right into their waiting arms. By mistake.

"ISIS" = Israeli State Intelligence Services.

I hate to talk about my fellow herd members like this, but, that fact has not even begun to dawn on them. One of the most intelligent friends I have thinks Iran needs bombing yesterday because "those Iranians have never contributed anything to society and they are so dangerous that they need to be swept off the planet."

I said he was intelligent and he is very intelligent. But his mind is isolated and insulated from the truth because that television is where he feeds his mind. Its not his fault really, but damn, Iran has had one of the richest cultures on the planet and geography is fairly diverse. Its not a sandpit full of hostile camel riders in the desert that wake up in the morning hating Americans but it is amazing how many Americans actually believe that.

This is a scary fact too. Intelligence, knowledge, and understanding are different and when it comes to this subject most are about as smart as a box of rocks from what I can see.

[backtoiam]

The tempo is picking up on this. The drum beat is getting louder and more repetitive....I don't know how long it will be but...........color me dubious...They are also being "very courageous" in admitting it. Some Democrats are "wary" of this which is about as much comedy as there is....

ISIS has targeted refugee program to enter US, chairman says
Posted on December 7, 2015 by Katie

The Hill – by Julian Hattem

Intelligence officials have determined that Islamic extremists have explored using the refugee program to enter the United States, the head of the House Homeland Security Committee said on Monday.

Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) declined to go into detail about the determination, which the Obama administration has not announced publicly.

Yet the disclosure could add ammunition to critics of the White House’s refugee plans who have warned that the program is vulnerable to infiltration by adherents of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

“ISIS members in Syria have attempted to exploit it to get into the United States,” McCaul said during a speech at the National Defense University on Monday.

“The U.S. government has information to indicate that individuals tied to terrorist groups in Syria have already attempted to gain access to our country through the U. S. refugee program.”

McCaul would not say specifically who informed him and other lawmakers about the revelation, only describing the sources as “elements of the intelligence community.”

“That was very courageous for them to come forward with this, to tell me about this personally, given the political debate on the Hill,” he added, suggesting that the news did not come from intelligence leaders.

The briefing happened “earlier this week,” McCaul said.

President Obama has repeatedly attempted to push back against concerns about Syrian refugees, 10,000 of whom he wants to bring into the country over the next year.

Refugees undergo rigorous screenings that last for up to two years, the Obama administration has said, making them the most thoroughly vetted people coming into the country.

Still, Republicans and some Democrats have been wary of the president’s plans.

Last month, the House overwhelmingly voted to increase the scrutiny of those refugees, making it more difficult for refugees from Iraq and Syria to enter U.S. border.

The Syrian civil war has killed more than 200,000 people since it began in 2011, and forced more than 4 million refugees to flee the country.

http://thehill.com/policy/national-secu ... irman-says